Orlando first started working on the book in 2021.
SAN ANTONIO — Every Christmas Eve, Orlando Mendiola had one job: to spread the masa during his family’s tamalada.
“Ever since I was a kid, my job has been to spread the masa. And so, I’m not going to say I’m a pro at it, even though I’ve been doing that since I was a kid. But, you know, I spread the masa, my brother he does the meat, my grandma always made the masa, the meat and everything,” Mendiola said.
“So, every Christmas Eve it’s like an all-day thing. And then by midnight we would be eating fresh tamales.”
Tamales that would last the Mendiola family until New Year’s.
The event, quite meaningful and important has become the inspiration behind Orlando’s first-ever children’s book, “The Last Tamale.”
The book follows three kids, Luis, Jacob and Letty who all want dibs on their family’s last tamale. But there’s only one way to choose a winner, a tamale battle consisting of three rounds: a dance battle, a lucha libre match and a final arm-wrestling competition with Abuelita. And readers can’t forget about the family chihuahua Pearl, who desperately wants a tamale for herself.
The San Antonio native said the story had been brewing in his mind for many years because despite bouncing from Northside ISD to Comal ISD, one thing remained the same: the family’s annual tamalada.
“I wanted it to be a story that felt like authentic to me and my experience, but also to the experience of so many people. And it’s such a tradition that, you know, a lot of people, Mexican and Mexican Americans do,” Orlando said.
As a young aspiring author Orlando believed he would publish his first book years down the line but then came the heavy hit of COVID.
Orlando had originally gone to the Eugene Lang College of Liberal Arts at The New School in New York for journalism before the pandemic, but as the world began to change so did Orlando’s plans.
At the beginning of 2021 he joined Professor Susan Shapiro’s online zoom class, where students had the opportunity to interact with editors from the publishing industry.
During the class the students came up with possible book pitches, brainstorming any and all ideas. Orlando believed a children’s book would be a good start and after experiencing his first tamale-free Christmas due to isolation, he found himself missing the annual tradition, so he wrote about it instead.
To Orlando’s surprise, the book was garnering attention from the professional editors in the class.
“All the pieces fell into place. [I] still can’t believe it,” Orlando said.
After finding an agent, his book was picked by publishing powerhouse, Harper Collins only a year after he first drafted, “The Last Tamale.”
“It’s always been a dream of mine to be an author, to write a book. And I never thought that this would be something that would happen to me,” Orlando said.
Orlando collaborated with the publisher to select their first-choice illustrator Teresa Martinez, tasked with bringing Orlando’s story to life.
“It was a dream come true that she was able to do it,” Orlando said about Teresa. “To see the book as it was coming together, I would get sketches and illustrations. And I was like, ‘wow this is coming together so well.’”
Orlando recalls being very impressed by how Teresa was able to draw a character’s essence so easily, especially one of the most beloved characters’ Pearl – based off of Orlando’s real-life dog.
“Teresa Martinez, she captured Pearl’s, like, whole personality so well. And I look at the book and I look at Pearl, and it’s just hilarious. But I love those illustrations, and she’s such a funny, special dog,” Orlando said.
“Pearl is a seven-year-old Chihuahua. I have three Chihuahuas at home, and she is definitely the one that is the most demanding. She’s so funny and she’s so cute,” he said.
But according to Orlando, he didn’t choose Peal, she choose him.
A family friend’s dog had given birth to a litter of puppies and evidently one of them, Pearl, had this loud bark that would scare all the other dogs.
Orlando remembers the first time he heard that infamous sound.
“I was like, who is that? What is this huge dog? And then out from like the corner came Pearl running right up to me. And she chose me. I didn’t choose her. She chose me and like our family,” he said while laughing.
“She’s made to be a character, she’s so funny.”
And despite Pearl being a fan-favorite for kids, Orlando’s is the family matriarch – inspired by his own Abuelita.
“My grandma did pass away in 2023. She was 96, so she knew about the book. She got to see sketches. She never got to see the final product,” Orlando said.
“You know, you never forget your grandma and you never forget your Abuelita. And, yeah, that’s my favorite character,” he added.
Orlando attended the San Antonio Book Festival earlier this year in April and plans to make a return.
“It was a very fun experience. It was my first book festival. It was an honor to do it just because San Antonio is my hometown, born and raised and for that to be my first book festival experience was a dream come true. I read the book in front of a pretty good-sized crowd so, it was such a fun experience and something I’ll never forget,” Orlando said.
“To see the kids excited about tamales and to see that they not only like the book, but also related to the book was so cool and just so much fun,” he said.
Orlando said the public response so far has been amazing, many praising the relatability and diversity of “The Last Tamale.”
“Like when I was growing up, it was like early 2000s, but I still felt like I didn’t see myself in a lot of these books. And so now looking around and seeing, you know, what’s available, I’m like the kids now have it so good. And they’re being promoted and pushed, which is great,” Orlando said.
Orlando also hopes to continue writing.
“I have a lot of ideas I’m currently writing out and working out, so hopefully this is the first of many to come.”
And when he isn’t writing up the next raved-about book he can be found scouring San Antonio for vintage vinyl’s, cassettes and CDs.
But every Christmas Eve you will still find him spreading the masa at his family’s tamalada.
“I don’t know the secret family recipe. My parents do but that will be something that hopefully gets passed down. Eventually,” he said.
For more about Orlando or to purchase a book, click here.
